Gurgaon Development Authority to be reality, Khattar vows quick start

Khattar said the process to put the GDA in place will kick off from November 1, other ministers and bureaucrats claimed the GDA would start functioning from that day.TNN | September 06, 2016, 07:32 IST

GURGAON: Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday announced the formation of the Gurgaon Development Authority, an agency that has been envisaged as a mini-administrator for the city that will eliminate the necessity of getting all files approved from Chandigarh.

There was some confusion on when the GDA would start functioning. While Khattar said the process to put the GDA in place will kick off from November 1, other ministers and bureaucrats claimed the GDA would start functioning from that day. That, though, looks unlikely as the draft for the formation of the new agency is yet to be approved.

Yet, Khattar's approval to the setting-up of the GDA is an important landmark for the way Gurgaon is run by the Haryana government, creating a huge infrastructure deficit even as the city has today become one of India's foremost corporate hubs with a cosmopolitan population that this has brought in.

"Gurgaon Development Authority will be set up. I am making this announcement on the auspicious day of Ganesh Chaturthi. Corporation (MCG) polls will be held after GDA is formed," Khattar said. The announcement made one thing clear, that the GDA will not take MCG's place, as earlier speculation had suggested. "We have two months to work out the nitty-gritty," he added. November 1 is Haryana's 50th formation day and the CM seemed intent to mark it with a meaningful turn in governance.

The CM has made multiple trips to Gurgaon since the 20-hour gridlock of July 28 and 29, inspecting infrastructure and promising to address the deficiencies.

Badshapur MLA and minister in the Khattar cabinet, Rao Narbir Singh, said by November 1, the office of the GDA will start functioning. "All the appointments will be made and the roles and functions of GDA will be defined by then. The office of the GDA will be up and running by November and it will provide huge relief to residents as the decision-making process will be made swift. None of the files will have to be sent to Chandigarh for approval as the senior bureaucrat heading GDA will be the final authority. The announcement made by the chief minister is indeed historic," he said.

Khattar said an IAS officer would be appointed vice-chairman of GDA.

While residents' associations, which have for long sought removal of multiplicity of agencies in Gurgaon, welcomed the CM's announcement, there were some who felt that instead of creating one more government body which is will be not be accountable to the residents, the MCG should be empowered so that residents who directly elect the mayor and the councillors have more say in who runs the city and how.

Khattar blamed the previous Congress government for the infrastructure mess in the city."If you ask me questions related to previous years, I will be forced to talk about the government of those days. Moreover, we have been in power for only 22 months now, and no government can start delivering its promises the moment it comes to power. "

To a question asked by TOI on why his government has failed to revive the solid waste treatment plant at Bandhwari, which has been lying defunct for past three years, was completely ignored by the chief minister. "Gurgaon has progressed a lot and it is being termed as smart city, millennium city or global city. There are many shortcomings in its planning which was done during the previous regimes. We cannot change the entire planning, but now the government has prepared a comprehensive development plan for Gurgaon," he said.